Wednesday, 28th March 2007 at 13:32

Via our friends at Photos Magiques, we're proud to present an exclusive first-look at Disney Characters' Express - in both photos and video! The new morning parade performed a special twilight avant-première for invited press and travel groups, revealing the huge redesign of the old Casey Jr. float... and the mini-parade's music. No, it's notDancin'!,

The music is… new! To Paris, at least – taken from “Disney’s Party Express” at Tokyo Disneyland, a similar parade featuring a steam train filled with characters, the music has been reworked by Vasile Sirli and the Disneyland Resort Paris team with totally new lyrics, including French and several “choo choos” throughout its fast-paced Casey Jr-style tempo. The music begins with a new announcement declaring “Attention! Attention!”“The Disney Character Express is coming!”.

But what of the parade? Casey Jr has been lucky enough to survive the chop after The Wonderful World of Disney Parade‘s demise, and now his 8 month absence from the parade route can really be understood. Sporting a slick and shiny new coat of white, gold and blue paint as seen in the recent concept art, the try-as-he-might steam engine from Dumbo has suddenly found a whole heap of new confidence…

Large 3D “15” plaques adorn each of the carriages and the engine, whilst Casey himself wears a special blue sash that appears to be blowing over his face, adding a frenzied touch of “can he see where he’s going?” to the “express” parade. The coal in his tender has been painted blue, with large silver stars dusted all over.

The most impressive change of all, though, is with the carriages. After almost nine years of knowing the old design, Casey Jr suddenly looks as good as new – better than new. It’s hard to believe they were able to reconfigure the carriages to include the ornate, swirling gold edges and fully-open design (the final wagon of the previous design, remember, was totally enclosed) seen here, especially on the budget the resort has to work with. Elements such as the old Lion Cage can still be spotted, but the final wagon is almost totally new – with its support columns decorated with a spiral white design similar to the wax of the characters’ candles…

The parade featured 13 characters: King Louie, Baloo, Captain Hook, Mr Smee, Goofy, Pinocchio, Gepetto, two mice from Cinderella, Chip n Dale, Woody and Jessie. As you might have noticed, they’ve also tied it all in nicely to the resort’s marketing campaign for the 15th, with each of the Disney characters holding their giant golden candles as seen in all the promotional art.

And now – the video!

The new morning parade will officially premiere on Saturday, steaming up Main Street four times a day for the entire 15th Anniversary celebration. All aboard!

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